I figured it would be helpful to have one thread to list schools where people have appealed their original financial aid offer and actually had it changed. Let's limit this thread to personal experience (not my buddy's mechanic's girlfriend) in this app cycle. I'll update this original post to include all the different schools posted in this thread.

Have already changed some offers:

AlabamaTempleTexas Tech

Have said they would consider other schools' offers:

LSUMichiganIndiana-BloomingtonTexas

Have said they WILL NOT consider other schools' offers:NorthwesternUVA

I'm getting close to a decision... which of these would you choose? I don't mind going into debt, but only if it would give me better career prospects. I've pretty much decided that I want to live near the coast for the rest of my life so I'd like a school that would land me in Florida (Tampa, Jax, Miami, Tampa, West Palm, etc...) U of FL costs less than $10k/year and UNC is not much more than that, but I'm basing that on the assumption that I'll be able to get residency after the first year. All of the other schools are about the same $30-35k's a year except for the scholarship mentioned above. m Thanks in advance

If you know that you want to target the Florida job market for your first job after school, then UF is head and shoulders above all the others IMO.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but according to last year's LSN, all but two admits after March 1 were URM or had numbers way above Dook's anyway. Waitlists started March 1. I realize they have new admissions people, but actually they have been right on schedule when you compare week-by-week LSN graphs.

After Feb 28th, I personally am going to assume I didn't get in. Of course, I can still dream.

If that's the case this year, then I hope they plan on having a really, really small class.

Here's their game, stage by stage:

1) Accept only individuals with very high numbers to try to push their medians way up.

2) As they don't hear back from those they've already admitted (obviously), they continue to admit applicants with semi-high numbers who went complete WELL AFTER the deadline. They figure these individuals applied too late to be considered by higher-ranked universities and will be forced to attend Duke. Duke's yield numbers still go up. They don't reward those who applied early or played by the rules.

3) After knowing how many of those with high numbers found themselves to have procrastinated themselves into Duke being their best option, they consider those with median numbers or below who will comprise the majority of their class. They realize that they could even put these individuals on a wait list and draw upon them as necessary, since they will gladly forfeit a spot at other universities for the sake of Duke.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but according to last year's LSN, all but two admits after March 1 were URM or had numbers way above Dook's anyway. Waitlists started March 1. I realize they have new admissions people, but actually they have been right on schedule when you compare week-by-week LSN graphs.

After Feb 28th, I personally am going to assume I didn't get in. Of course, I can still dream.

If that's the case this year, then I hope they plan on having a really, really small class.

So does this change things in terms of the UCLA v Notre Dame debate? What are your plans now?

Good question. I think at this point UCLA is still about $20k more expensive for the three years. Another thing is that I don't want to work in Cali immediately after I graduate--my wife and I want to be in an area where we can afford to buy a house and start a family on just my income. So ND probably still has the edge right now, but if UCLA can come up with some merit-based money or something that might change.